Fargo, North Dakota needs a new 500-car parking garage stat, so the city launched the <a href="http://www.competition.kilbournegroup.com/" target="_blank">Downtown Fargo: Urban Infill Design Competition</a> to source creative solutions for creating a downtown block that still provides adequate parking spaces. One of the proposals by <a href="http://populararchitecture.com/" target="_blank">Popular Architecture</a> caught our eye with the beautiful addition of a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/grass-coated-green-roofed-parking-garage-concept-for-tokyo/" target="_blank">green garage rooftop park</a> and a creative layout that provides adequate space for a parking garage but doesn't make it the most important thing on the block.

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Recently Fargo demolished an older parking garage and wanted to update it with increased parking capacity.

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At the same time they wanted the urban block to add to the livability, sustainability and beauty of the city with a multi-use urban solution that addresses retail, office, housing, parking, and plaza space for the US Bank block.

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<a href="http://populararchitecture.com/" target="_blank">Popular Architecture</a> responded with a solution that pushed the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/chicago-parking-garage-harvests-energy-from-windy-city-gusts/" target="_blank">parking garage</a> to the center of the block and placed four new mixed use towers around the garage.

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Visitors could park in the garage on whatever level is most appropriate to reach their destination.

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The parking garage is partially underground to allow for a pedestrian walkway through the center of the garage to connect each of the towers. This design also extends the City’s existing pedestrian Skyway system.

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Wide staircases and walkways inside the garage encourage walking while providing access up to the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/undulating-green-roofed-hotel-opens-in-norway/" target="_blank">rooftop park</a>.

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A large public plaza in front of the garage serves as a leisure area for visitors and provides a space for outdoor events.

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The parking garage and ramp is placed in the center of the city block, and three levels of parking space are pushed underground in order to create a void in the center for pedestrians.

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The city's Skywalk is extended through the buildings and garage and connects to the wide staircases to access the public rooftop park.

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Each of the buildings surrounding the garage would be built to maximize winter solar gain and the buildings' volumes are designed to take advantage of the sun

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Passive House design standards would be used on all buildings to improve energy efficiency, including high levels of insulation, airtightness and heat recovery units.

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Arup was brought in to assist Popular Architecture to calculate the project's solar gain.

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Although the proposal did not win the competition, we're inspired by the solution that Popular Architecture devised.

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Fargo, North Dakota needs a new 500-car parking garage stat, so the city launched the Downtown Fargo: Urban Infill Design Competition to source creative solutions for creating a downtown block that still provides adequate parking spaces. One of the proposals by Popular Architecture caught our eye with the beautiful addition of a green garage rooftop park and a creative layout that provides adequate space for a parking garage but doesn't make it the most important thing on the block.